May U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $336.98 million according to AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 13.2% from April’s $388.43 million and down 6.2% when compared with the total of $359.28 million reported for May 2014. With a year-to-date total of $1,798.34 million, 2015 was down 7.9% when compared with 2014.

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTO program.

“In large part, the decline in manufacturing technology orders is due to smaller manufacturers feeling a sense of economic uncertainty and therefore hesitant to make any kind of capital investment,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “In addition, the energy industry has curbed its spending, accounting for about half of the year-to-date decline in orders, and aerospace did not perform as well as expected in the first quarter. We expect the downturn to ease thanks to strong performance in the automotive and medical industries, with industrial production and a stronger PMI also indicating resilience in manufacturing.”

The United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) report, compiled by the trade association representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. orders data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. Analysis of manufacturing technology orders provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.

U.S. manufacturing technology orders are also reported on a regional basis for six geographic breakdowns of the United States.

NOTE: AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology’s intent is to always provide timely and accurate economic reports to our community. For this reason, we are making an adjustment to the USMTO report. Due to a change in survey participants the year over year comparison number for Metal Forming and Fabricating is not an accurate reflection of the data. We have adjusted the data for the past 12 months to take this change into consideration. The new chart reflects a consistent year over year comparison of the data at the current participation level.